“Finally now when I go to visit Francesco at the cemetery I will be able to tell him that he has received justice.” Maurizio Olivieri says this, moved, yesterday afternoon in the courtroom of the Court of Appeal of Ancona, at the reading of the sentence. Olivieri is the maternal grandfather of little Francesco Bonifazi, originally from Cagli, who died at the age of 7 on 27 May 2017 from a banal ear infection treated only with homeopathic remedies. The appeal confirms the first degree sentence of November 2022, i.e. the three years of imprisonment inflicted on Massimiliano Mecozzi, the now 62-year-old homeopath from Pesaro, accused of manslaughter. It is he who in 2017 treated an ear infection with homeopathy which, without the barrier of antibiotics, became fatal: it attacked the brain and the child died on May 27, after a few days of agony. Among other things, the provisional compensation established by the first degree was also confirmed yesterday, namely 40 thousand euros for the grandfather, and 30 thousand for the uncle. For the homeopath there will also be a suspension from public office for 5 years, as soon as the sentence becomes final.
Francesco’s grandfather has always been present in the courtroom, in all the hearings. It was there yesterday too, and he bursts into tears when the court reads the device. “Francesco – says the 69-year-old grandfather – no one will give him back to us, but today I had the clear feeling that my grandson finally got the justice he deserved”. However, the accused, Mecozzi, was absent and brought a medical certificate. At 3 o’clock yesterday afternoon the Doric Court therefore closed another chapter, perhaps the last if Mecozzi’s defense does not appeal to the Supreme Court, of a seven-year-long procedural matter. Precisely for this reason, both Federica Mancinelli, the lawyer representing the civil party of the Bonifazi family (the grandfather and uncle) and the grandfather himself, Olivieri, feared that the trial would get bogged down to the point of the risk of statute of limitations. Last January, two of the judges who made up the Court were found to be incompatible and needed to be replaced. So it was, and yesterday the sentence was reached.
“Today – said the lawyer Federica Mancinelli – I speak on behalf of the whole family, including Francesco’s parents. Finally there is confirmation that the Court of Appeal has also recognized that the responsibility lies with the doctor, his and no one else’s. We are happy to have arrived here after a seven-year ordeal, it is a long period, in which Francesco’s family has been tried in every way, but has withstood it, even if the loss of a child is devastating, but they they have never lost faith. This is why I can say that today is a victory for everyone, that the truth has been restored and that this response must be valorised.”
Now the judges – yesterday president was Antonella Di Carlo – have 90 days to write the reasons and Mecozzi’s defense (lawyer Fabio Marzio Palazzo) has another 45 to decide whether to appeal to the Supreme Court. But after this appeal ruling and after the many interruptions, including those linked to Covid, the statute of limitations would expire, according to an initial assessment made yesterday, in the spring of 2025. A time that would also allow the Supreme Court ruling to be reached, provided that the defense decides to appeal. The lawyer Corrado Canafoglia also appeared as a civil party for the Consumers’ Union.
